The newest profile of Apple CEO Tim Cook, from Bloomberg Businessweek, provides a number of interesting details about Cook’s leadership of the company, including further insight into the development of the Apple Watch. “Anybody coming out of there yesterday knows that innovation is alive and well in Cupertino,” Cook said following the event introducing the new iPhones, Apple Pay, and the Apple Watch. “If there were any doubts, I think that they should be put to bed.”
In the article, Apple SVP Jony Ive reveals the Apple Watch was “conceived in his lab three years ago,” shortly after the death of Steve Jobs.
Ive said the watch was “one of the most difficult projects” he’d ever worked on. The watch team included hundreds of employees from different disciplines, and Apple SVP Jeff Williams — described as “Tim Cook’s Tim Cook” in today’s Apple — led the program. “We want to make the best product in the world,” Williams said.
“One of our competitors is on their fourth or fifth attempt, but nobody is wearing them.” Cook echoed the sentiment of waiting to get it right. The report notes that Cook “wishes he could make the device more affordable,” but he wouldn’t compromise Apple’s profit margins. He sees the watch as “the beginning of a very long run.”
The article also delves more into the culture of Apple under Cook — somewhat well-worn ground by this point, though it’s noted that some in the company aren’t fond of Cook’s financial discipline and use of larger teams to accomplish what smaller groups did in the past.
